The 5G communication requires wide-band operation at the frequency range from 24 GHz to 43 GHz, necessitating a wide-band and efficient wireless transmitter. Conventionally, power amplifier (PA) and transmit/receive (T/R) switch are designed separately with a single standard 50Ω interface. The separation of these circuits can result in sacrificed transmitter bandwidth, output power, and efficiency.
Major transmitter specifications (for example, bandwidth, output power, and efficiency) are substantially governed or dominated by components located past the PA active transistors, for example, the PA output matching network and the T/R switch. Therefore, co-design of the PA output matching networks and T/R switch can provide a unique advantage and benefit to improve transmitter performance.
Furthermore, a T/R switch can beneficially have a greater degree of design freedom and improved impedance matching if the transmit and receive branches have separate matching inductors.